Effacement
by fortheloveofbuttercups
Summary: It was supposed to be like any other mission. It wasn't. Agent Christopher turned to Lucy. "You. Who are you?" Lucy's heart stopped. Wyatt looked from Lucy to Agent Christopher. "You don't know Lucy?" "Should I?" — Effacement: to wipe out, do away with, erase, or obliterate. "The effacement of one's unhappy memories is a practice sought by many, accomplished by a few."
1. Chapter 1

It was supposed to be like any other mission. Get in, fly back to another bygone era, stop some pretty bad people from changing history and the world and life as they knew it, and get back home. It _had_ gone that way. Exactly that way.

Or so they thought.

The machine heaved to a stop as the trio lurched forward in their seats. Rufus did as usual and glanced over his shoulder, offering a simple, "Everyone okay?" and, in return, receiving a grunt from Wyatt and a small affirmative from Lucy.

The trip back had been somewhat harrowing. Lucy wasn't thrilled about dealing with a worldwide epidemic, especially one like the 1918 Spanish Flu, which killed millions across the globe. It was the first trip back that they'd taken supplies and medicine, just in case one of them contracted the deadly virus. Luckily, they hadn't needed any of it.

Rufus opened the door to the Lifeboat. He was already unbuckled and out of his seat before his two teammates. They both knew how much he missed and worried about Jiya while they were on missions, especially since she'd been in the hospital. He always ran straight to her when he jumped out of the machine.

Wyatt unbuckled and stood, moving to the door, but turning and offering his hand to Lucy as she maneuvered out of her seat. They stepped onto the platform, Wyatt's back to the room as he held Lucy's hand, helping her each step of the way, which is why he never saw them.

Lucy gasped when she took in the sight before them. Wyatt turned, ready to draw his gun, if needed. Agent Christopher and Mason were already on the platform, moving quickly towards Lucy and Wyatt. Every agent in the room had their gun drawn and pointed at Wyatt and Lucy. Rufus, who was already at Jiya's side, spoke up first.

"Hey! What's going on? What _happened_?!" He turned to Jiya. "Jiya, what is this? Did something happen while we were gone?"

Jiya was motionless, mouth agape, as she looked from Rufus to the other two team members. "Rufus, what did you do?"

He scrunched his face up. "What? What do you mean? What _did_ we do?"

At that same moment, Agent Christopher and Mason confronted Wyatt and Lucy.

"Master Sergeant, I hope you have a good explanation for this."

Wyatt's face contorted as much as Rufus's. "Ma'am? With all due respect, what are you talking about?"

Agent Christopher sighed and motioned to Lucy. "This, Master Sergeant. I'm talking about this."

Lucy's eyebrows shot up. "What? What do you mean?" She turned to Wyatt, squeezing his hand and automatically pulling him closer. The panic beginning to rise. What had they done? What had they changed? "Wyatt?"

Agent Christopher turned to Lucy. "You. Who are you?"

Lucy's heart stopped. Wyatt pulled her closer, wrapping his arm around her. She could feel the room beginning to spin and was thankful Wyatt was holding her or else she'd probably hit the floor.

Wyatt looked from Lucy to Agent Christopher. "You don't know Lucy?"

"Should I?"

Wyatt scoffed. "Well, yeah, you hired her." But even that didn't help. Agent Christopher had no idea who Lucy was. The worst part was that no one else did either. Christopher signaled for the agents to lower their weapons.

Rufus made his way back down the platform to where the group stood. "Guys, what happened? What… what did we _change_?"

Wyatt was just as confused. He ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "Lucy. Lucy Preston. She's our historian. She's…I mean…She's…" He sighed and looked around the room. "No one here knows her besides me and Rufus?!"

But no one had answers. And Lucy couldn't breathe. Her world was collapsing around her. She looked at Agent Christopher and Mason, her words barely audible. "You don't know me? At all?"

Christopher shook her head as Mason replied, "Honey, I've never seen you before in my life."

Lucy pushed away from Wyatt. She knew this feeling all too well. She was back in the car, slowing sinking into oblivion. Hyperventilating. Terrified. Dying. No. _Not_ dying. How can you die if you don't exist? She was moving slowly at first, backing away from everyone else on the platform, including Wyatt. He deliberately stepped closer to her. _Always the protector_. "So, what you're all saying is…I don't exist? I'm not…I don't…I mean." Her eyes closed as she huffed out a breath, intent on getting the right words out. "I've come back to a timeline where I don't _exist_?"

Wyatt stepped around the group and grabbed Lucy's arms, an attempt to ground and calm her. "Lucy, you exist. You're here. You. Are. Here." He cupped her cheek and forced her to look at him, his voice barely a whisper. "And I'm right here with you. I'm not going anywhere. Okay?" She gave a slight nod and leaned into him. He automatically wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer as he turned to the others. "So, what happened? What does this mean? We erased someone from Lucy's family? Her parents didn't meet? I mean…what?"

Mason stepped forward. "It means…we don't know. But we'll figure it out."

Agent Christopher agreed. "We'll sort this all out. But in the meantime, go get cleaned up and get some rest. We'll need you all alert and ready for, what I expect will be, a long debrief first thing in the morning."

The room began to stir as agents and techs returned to their work. Rufus took Lucy's hand as Jiya walked to stand beside him. "Lucy, I _promise_ we'll figure this out."

Jiya reached out to Lucy and lightly touched her arm, a kind and sympathetic gesture that didn't go unnoticed. "We will. I'm assuming I know you in your timeline…?"

Lucy smiled, fondly remembering so many of their conversations, especially the more recent ones regarding _their guys_. "Yeah, pretty well." Her bottom lip quivered as she held back the tears.

"Then, we'll figure it out. Rufus and I are pretty good at things like this. We'll find out what got changed."

"Thank you." Lucy reached out and pulled Jiya into a hug, then quickly realized what she was doing and released her. "Oh - I'm…I'm sorry. You're not - I mean… We usually hug. I hope that's okay?"

Jiya laughed and pulled Lucy to her. "It's _always_ okay."

Wyatt reached for Lucy. "Come on. Let's go get changed out of these clothes."

* * *

She took a longer shower than necessary. He said he'd wait for her outside the locker room, but as long as she was in there, he'd probably given up. Jiya had offered to loan her some clothes. Since she didn't exist, that meant her locker didn't either. Her purse, wallet, ID, keys. You name it. All gone. Not to mention her clothes or car or home. Not that she really had a home anyway. She'd left her mom's a while ago and moved into a hotel. While it wasn't what some in their group wanted, namely Wyatt, Agent Christopher had been adamant that it was the safest way to keep around the clock eyes on Lucy. But none of that mattered now. Because she'd never existed here.

It all hit her the moment she sat on the bench to tie her shoes. Not only was Amy gone, but now she was, too. Erased from memories, history, existence. The tears slowly fell, staining her pants as she held her knees to her chest, slowly rocking back and forth. She dropped her head and let the sobs take over. She never heard him enter or call her name.

"Lucy?" He quickly rushed to her side, sitting as he wrapped his arms around her. "Shhh. It's okay. It's going to all be okay."

She unfolded herself, sniffing back the tears as she wiped at her eyes with her sleeve. "How do you know, Wyatt? I mean…we don't know what we did! And somehow, I got _erased_ from existence! You and I both know that we've tried to fix that before. It can't be done."

Wyatt ran his fingers through her hair and smiled. "There's a difference between those times and this one." She scrunched her brow. "You're still here. You may not exist in this timeline, but you were still able to come to it. Which means you do exist." He reached for her locket and opened it, revealing the picture of Amy. "Just like your sister's photo existed after our original timeline. She's still out there, just like you're here."

She grasped the locket and glanced at him, giving a small smile. He was right. She knew he was right. But that didn't make any of it easier. She leaned closer to him, letting her head fall softly on his shoulder. "Thank you."

He smiled and held her tighter. "Anytime…ma'am." She smirked and ducked her face against his chest. "So, what do you say we go home and get some rest? We can start fresh tomorrow."

She sat up quickly. "Home? I don't.. have one of those." Her shoulders slumped. "I literally have no where to go."

He nudged her with his knee. "Sure you do." He stood, walking to the doorway, and motioned for her to follow. "I talked to Christopher. We agreed the safest thing to do right now is to keep you under constant surveillance."

She raised her eyebrows as she stood. "Oh, so we're going to the hotel?"

He gave a half-smile. "Nope. My place."

Was her face as red as she thought it was?

"Oh, um… Okay."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I mean, there's really no where else. And…" She trailed off, not sure how much she really wanted to say. After all, it'd been a very long day. "I don't really want to be alone. I'm already feeling pretty…isolated."

He stood in the locker room doorway, holding out a jacket to her that she assumed was another item on loan from Jiya.

"Well, come on, baby doll. Let's go home."


	2. Chapter 2

She sat on his sofa, her legs folded under her, a warm mug of tea clutched tightly in her hands. Her hair was still damp from the shower, a few droplets leaving trails on the dark gray sweatshirt he'd loaned her earlier. He'd asked if she wanted to talk, but she admitted she honestly didn't know how to talk about this.

The ride to his apartment was more nauseating than she'd ever admit. It had nothing to do with his driving, but rather a realization that she'd never been in this world. There was zero record of her here. Were those the same streets she's driven a hundred or so times on her way to and from Mason Industries? Was that the same Starbucks she'd stopped at every time they were called in on an early morning? Did the same perky barista work there who liked to add a "Goosey" to the end of her name on her cup? What changed and what remained the same? Even though she didn't exist, could her grandparents or parents? Could Amy?

That thought made her heart skip a beat.

"I need a computer."

It was the first thing she'd really said in over an hour. He'd allowed her to try to come to terms with the events of the day, not that anyone could ever truly understand it.

"What are you thinking?"

He reached for his laptop on the nearby kitchen counter and handed it to her.

"I'm thinking something happened to my family. Something either we did..or..."

He nodded. "Something Rittenhouse did."

"Exactly. But why? My family is one of the oldest families. My mother said I was practically a Rittenhouse princess. So...why would they want to erase me?"

He sat on the sofa next to her as she opened the laptop and navigated to the internet browser.

"Maybe we were getting too close. Maybe _you_ were getting too close."

"To what?"

"To uncovering the truth of it all. Exposing them for what they are."

"Which is?"

He scoffed. "A cult."

She really couldn't argue with that.

A cursory search didn't reveal much. There was still no record of an Amy Preston in San Francisco. What she vaguely knew of her father's side of the family didn't go back as far as 1918. Same with her mother's side. For someone who knew a lot about the past, she was certainly lacking when it came to her own family's history.

"I think my mom may have had relatives in New England. Maybe? Or the Midwest. My grandmother moved out here when she was a kid, I think."

He smirked and took the laptop from her.

"Is there anything you know for certain about your family?"

Her mind went blank. He had a point.

Was it all a lie?

"Not anymore."

She was suddenly overwhelmed. And hot. She couldn't breathe.

And his sweatshirt was strangling her. She stood up and took it off, careful of not taking her t-shirt with it.

"Lucy? What's wrong?"

He was on his feet, moving quickly to her. She was flushed and frustrated and hyperventilating.

"I can't do this. Nothing that I know is what I know!"

He shook his head.

"What? Lucy, you've got to calm down. Okay? Just breathe. Slowly. Deep breaths."

He tried to pull her to him but she pushed away, moving in circles, pacing across the small living space.

"I can't...get ahold of this, Wyatt." She was visibly shaking as she moved. "I've been trying but I don't know how to do this." She looked at him, her eyes pleading for him to have the answers, to be the steady guide that she'd come to rely on.

But he didn't have the answers.

"Lucy, there's no guidebook for this. I'm just as confused and terrified as you are. But," he moved closer to her, cautiously, as not to spook her, "we will figure this out." He slowly, gently, pulled her close, resting his chin on top of her head. He felt her breathing slow and her body relax.

They remained like that for a while, until her voice quietly said, "Why are you scared?"

He didn't want to say what he'd been fearing since the moment they found out she didn't exist here. He didn't want to tell her how he had immediately compared her to Jessica, if only in the fact that he didn't want to lose someone else he cared so deeply for. He didn't want to admit that his legs nearly buckled under him when Agent Christopher didn't recognize her. He couldn't say how his stomach had been in knots ever since she'd agreed to stay with him.

And he certainly wasn't ready to tell her that he was terrified he'd wake up tomorrow morning and she'd be gone.

"I'm just...afraid of what's happening. Or has happened. Or...whatever..." She looked up at him and gave a half-hearted smile. He couldn't help it. It was happening before he knew it. He leaned down and placed a brief kiss on her cheek, letting his lips linger against her skin. "You should get some sleep." He reluctantly pulled away from her and gave her a gentle push towards the bedroom. "Go on. Take the bed."

She hesitated in the hallway.

"Where will you sleep?"

"Out here on the sofa."

She almost turned and walked to the bedroom, ready to let sleep overtake her. But she didn't.

"Stay with me."

He was certain he didn't hear her correctly.

"What?"

"Please. I don't want to be alone. I'm..I need someone to...hold onto."

He didn't wait for a second invitation. He didn't need one.

Because, if he were being honest with himself, he probably would've crawled in bed with her later anyway to hold her all night.

And so, he did.


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: This wasn't how I wanted this chapter to go. I'd planned on jumping straight into their debrief. But every time I tried to write that, I felt this needed to be examined and written instead. Lucy had to be in a certain headspace before going into debrief. That will be the next chapter though and questions will be answered! Thank you so much to everyone who's reviewed and sent such lovely messages about this story. It's much appreciated! :)_

* * *

There were 342 tiny holes in Wyatt's bedroom ceiling. No, 343. Or was that a bug?

Yep. 342.

How'd they get there? Did those holes exist in their original timeline? Or was it a this-timeline-Wyatt thing? Did he have pictures of Jess on the ceiling? And what about Jess in this timeline? Did she exist? If she did, was it the same outcome as all of the others? If Lucy and Wyatt had never met in this timeline, was he still pining away for Jess and trying to get her back? How similar was this Wyatt to her Wyatt? (Not that he was actually _her_ Wyatt…)

And how did that timeline stuff work? If they weren't currently in their timeline, did that mean that another Wyatt and Lucy and Rufus were in theirs? Were they all just playing musical timeline chairs? What happens if you lose? Is that what happened to her? She lost this sick, cruel timeline game and her punishment is to never have been born?

And now, she had a headache.

She closed her eyes and shook her head. She should've slept all night. Besides having been a long trip back to 1918, it had been a difficult week. Life lately was exhausting, so she should be able to sleep for a week.

But she couldn't. Her mind wouldn't let her.

Of course, she was also terrified that if she fell asleep, she might not wake up at all.

What happens when you're erased from existence? That thought plagued her mind all through the night. She was terrified to close her eyes, even for a minute. If she passed into that dream world, would she wake up? And if she did wake up, would it be in this timeline or would she be in a space-like void? Would she be trapped in a wormhole, lost to time and space? Was she allowed to come to a timeline where she technically shouldn't exist? Was this a violation of nature or the universe?

She glanced at the clock next to her on the nightstand. 4:30 AM glared at her in bright red. She sighed. Loudly. She turned her head back to look at Wyatt and smiled. She wasn't sure how peacefully he was sleeping, but he'd been softly snoring (breathing deeply, he'd later insist) for the last couple of hours. He was exhausted, too. They all were. Time travel wasn't for the faint of heart or weak of body.

His arm had found its way across her torso around 2am. She heard him roll on his side and, as he did so, threw his arm gently across her, tugging her closer to him. She gasped when he did it, not loudly, but softly and unexpectedly. Whatever they were in any timeline, it wasn't yet defined, but she wasn't going to turn down the closeness, especially not now. Not when he and Rufus were the only two on the planet who knew her.

But his arm was still across her, his hand now slightly under her shirt and pressed firmly against her skin. She didn't mind. The contact felt needed since, without it, she was afraid she might disappear. She reached for his arm, gently running her nails along it, back and forth in a soothing, comforting manner, probably more for her than him. He breathed deeply and let out a sigh, which sent a slight shiver through her. She briefly stopped, worried she might have woken him.

"Please don't stop."

She smiled at his small, groggy voice as she continued running her nails along his arm.

"I didn't mean to wake you."

"You should've thought of that before you began counting sheep out loud."

She wrinkled her brow.

"Sheep? I wasn't - oh! No, that wasn't sheep. There are holes in your ceiling. Tiny little holes. Hundreds of them. And I didn't know I was counting out loud. Are you sure? I could swear I wasn't…"

His eye popped open.

"Why are you counting the holes in my ceiling?"

She sighed.

"I…was trying to take my mind off of…everything."

He closed his eye again and pushed his head into his pillow, rubbing his forehead against the material, his voice muffled a bit as he spoke.

"Yeah? And how'd that work out?"

She rolled her eyes.

"It didn't."

He huffed and moved his head to fully look at her.

"Lucy. I promise you we will figure this out. I bet Rufus and Jiya already have a plan."

She rolled her head to look at him, the tiniest half smile forming at the corner of her mouth.

"What if they don't? What if we end up stuck in this timeline? What if my being here throws a wrench in the time-space-contiuum thing and I disappear?" She paused, realizing something. "Wait - what if I explode?! Do people do that? Can't you do that? I saw something on the Discovery Channel once about that. People who spontaneously combust. Maybe they're time travelers and they're in the wrong timeline, so they just blow up!"

Wyatt squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head, before moving his hand up to cup her face, forcing her to look at him.

"Lucy! Slow down! You're not going to spontaneously combust. That…doesn't happen."

"Are you sure?"

"We can ask Rufus and Jiya to be certain, but I'm pretty sure. I think you're okay."

She nodded. "Okay." She paused. "But what about -"

"No. No more what-ifs. We could 'what if' all day. You're okay. You're here. You're safe." He pulled her closer to him, sitting up slightly so that both of his arms could wrap around her. He whispered softly against her ear. "I've got you, Luce."

She held onto his arms, pulling him closer and breathing him in, a subtle attempt to ground herself in this newfound reality.

"I'm so scared, Wyatt. What's going to happen to me?"

Her voice was small and soft, a tiny plea for his ears only.

"I don't know. But I'll be right there with you, whatever happens. Okay?"

She nodded against his chest. "Okay."

They stayed like that for a while, him holding on to her, still terrified to let her go, though he'd still not admit that to her. She clung to him just as tightly, needing something, or someone, tangible and warm and real.

His phone was the first to chime. He reached around and grabbed it off the nightstand next to him.

"It's Rufus. He says they may know why things are so screwed up."

She pulled slightly away from him, an attempt to get a better look at the message on his phone, when her phone also dinged on her side of the bed. She reached for it and read the message.

"He sent the same text to me."

"Guess we should go see what's up."

They both hesitated. Lucy stared at the message on her phone as it lay in her lap.

"I'm not sure I want to know what's going on." She sighed and smiled sadly at Wyatt. "Can't we just stay here and be blissfully unaware?"

He reached over and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"One day." He smiled and her heart fluttered a bit at that. "But not today." She smiled and looked back down at her phone. "Come on. Let's go see what they've found out." She kept her head down and closed her eyes. Wyatt placed his hand gently on her back. "Right by your side. Remember?"

She smiled faintly and looked up at him.

"Okay. Let's go."


End file.
